By the mid 90’s, they added a couple of Chicago Transit Authority songs to their repertoire. With theband’s instrumentation and vocal abilities, these seemed like a ‘natural’ for the band to do. Thesewent over so well that it was decided that the band would do an entire Chicago Transit tribute show –the first of its type anywhere. With the band’s multi-lead vocalists, four-piece horn section, thentrombonist, Dan Elliot’s impressive horn arrangements and the ability of most band members to playsecondary instruments, they managed to create an entire Chicago Transit tribute show – all livewithout the aid of any additional trax.The tribute show idea was going over so well that, when approached by a friend to do another tribute show, the band soon foundthemselves working on a Rod Stewart show with Dave Battah, one of the best RodStewart impersonators around. That was followed by another show with FrankRondell and his Ray Charles tribute. Both Frank and Dave have moved on fromthe band, Dave to fairly heavy international touring commitments and Frank withhis own work impersonating other artists. But Powerhouse continues on with theirRod Stewart show, now with Doug Varty at centre stage, another excellent Rod Stewart tribute artist.With now, two solid full tribute shows in their repertoire plus their original soul/Motown/R&B Powerhouse show, the band movedinto their third decade, solidly booked and well-travelled. By 2006, they had taken their Ray Charles tribute show across theocean for a two-week tour of Portugal and the Azores Islands. They were now regularly playing festivals and casinos throughoutOntario, Quebec, northern and midwest United States – this, on top of their regular local bookings in everything from nightclubsto Christmas parties. And in spite of recent difficult events for the band – losing founding members to serious disease andillness – the band, as it gets ready to enter its fourth decade together, shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. With rebuiltvocal harmonies, restructured horn arrangements and extensive new additions to the material in their Powerhouse R&B show,the band is now as dynamic and energetic as they ever have been.The POWERHOUSE Band

The POWERHOUSE Band– a brief history of the last 30 years–The band began in early January of 1986 when three 60’s horn players sat down in a basement inHamilton, Ontario, Canada and decided to put together a Soul/R&B hornband. The first Blues Brothers movie had been released a few yearsearlier and rebuilding a 60’s horn band for the southern Ontario area seemed like a perfect idea.They took their time with their project, collecting the needed players, deciding and working on theirsonglist, collecting equipment, a place to practice, etc. Their lead guitarist of choice was still living in B.C. at the time, so whilethey waited for him to return to Ontario, they proceeded ahead with the horn section – choosing the songs for their project andcharting the horn arrangements. While one person worked on the charts, another was scrounging up needed practice equipmentand preparing a place to work. Still another was on the phone, scouting venues for when the bandwas ready to play. By June of 1986 (six months later), the band was ready to go and bookedthemselves as a 7-song ‘guest spot’ at Oliver’s Nightclub in downtown Hamilton, Ontario during abreak in another local band’s show.The early POWERHOUSE band was a 7-piece unit, made up of a 3-piece horn section (trumpet, sax & trombone), a 3-piecerhythm section (lead guitar, bass guitar & drums) and a front man/lead singer. Theband immediately took over a ‘home base’ at an east-end Hamilton Roadhouseowned by the band’s saxophone player. Within a year, they had moved uptown tobecome the house band at one of the central city’s hottest roadhouses. Within afew years, they had played nearly every major venue in the Hamilton/Burlington andsurrounding area. There were band personnel changes during the first few years,but as the band was in full weekly practice mode, the changes were seamless andthe band didn’t miss a beat. At the end of their third year together, the band made amajor personnel change.In 1989, it was decided to replace their lead singer/frontman with a good friend from a sister band in the 60’s. With him came afourth horn player (trumpet), a lead-singer-quality voice, plus a booking agent – all three of which were great assets to the band. The horn section could now remain solid and full even during full vocal harmonies. The years following this addition would seethe band develop what would become known as their trademark ‘wall of sound’.The band stayed very busy during the next years. With a booking agent now as part of the band, their scope expanded to theQuebec border to the east, the U.S. border to the west and into northern Ontario. They played everywhere from outdoor festivals,nightclubs, corporate events and every private function one could think of. There were many personnel changes, as well, as bandmembers would move along to other projects and be replaced by more of the best musicians the area had to offer. With eachpersonnel change came new musical influences and progressively more difficult and intricate arrangements of material. Theiroriginal songlist of Wilson Pickett and James Brown-dominated tunes was now mixed with those of Blood, Sweat & Tears,different blues bands and Tower of Power. By the mid 90’s, the band had added a keyboard player and was into their seconddecade and ready for their next major change.